[gaz1]

Hi everyone,

We are planning a trip to Canada & Alaska around September next year using frequent flyer points & would really appreciate some advice / tips & thoughts.

We will start (& finish!) in Perth & need to arrive into Vancouver & leave out of Anchorage (or vice-versa). Stops to get there & on the way back are not critical although if we need to stop it would be good to stop somewhere interesting (Tokyo comes to mind) while not going too far out of the way (to minimise points).

We would like to go business class all the way if possible.

To do this I assume the only way is with a one-world award?
If so, I presume you don't actually have to go around the world with a one world award?
Looking at the one-world conditions it appears as though we will be charged for the distance between Vancouver & Anchorage even if we make our own way in between - is this correct?

Any suggestions on itinerary would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Gary.

[NM]

Alaska is going to cause you some problems for a QF OneWorld award. Note that the only OneWorld flight to ANC is an AA flight from DFW that is seasonal and this year stops on 30th September. It is not yet known when it will stop next year. They also sometimes operate from ORD (Chicago), but that is not operating any more this summer.

And note that QF includes the mileage for all sectors when calculating the cost of a OneWorld award (unlike AA who only include the great circle distance between stopovers). So routing via DFW is going to add quite a few miles.

Also note that even if you pay for a Business Class OneWorld award through QF, all AA 2-class domestic flights, including LAX-DFW (3 hours) and DFW-ANC (over 6 hours) are going to be in economy. Again this is different to an AA OneWorld Award where a business class award gets you into the F cabin on 2-class AA domestic flights.

You may find it easier to just look for an award to/from YVR and buy a one-way flight with Alaska Airlines for the Alaska portion. Note that getting to YVR you have the following options:

• CX via HKG,
• AA via DFW or ORD
• BA via LHR
• FJ via HNL

Note the QF73 flight via SFO to YVR is seasonal and not expected to be operating through September as it is not this year.

And if you want multiple seats in business class, then start praying as it can be difficult to find multiples and Qantas will not allow you to hold an award itinerary to wait for availability to be loaded by partner airlines. Note that the QF flights will be available to you 355 days ahead, but partner airline availability will vary by airline.

[ioki]

so when does qantas usually release the syd -> yvr summer scehedule?

[rhjames]

Good luck. I've tried to do similar. Qantas seats for FF business class seem rarer than duck eggs layed by earwigs. I have over a million FF points, but seem to pay for most of my overseas holidays.

[gaz1]

Hi NM,

Thanks for the info - this is going to be a little more involved than I thought!

I presume that the LAX-YVR (codeshare) would be seasonal too?

I guess another option would be via NRT to YVR using Japan Airlines?

I thought that Alaska Airlines is part of oneworld, but when I look (more carefully!) at the Qantas website they list them (a partner airline?), but not part of oneworld. Is it possible to book an Alaska Airlines flight using points?

Thanks,

Gary.

[NM]

Originally Posted by gaz1

I presume that the LAX-YVR (codeshare) would be seasonal too?

No, the codeshare operated by Alaska Airlines is year round.

Originally Posted by gaz1

I guess another option would be via NRT to YVR using Japan Airlines?

Yes, that would be another option

Originally Posted by gaz1

I thought that Alaska Airlines is part of oneworld, but when I look (more carefully!) at the Qantas website they list them (a partner airline?), but not part of oneworld. Is it possible to book an Alaska Airlines flight using points?

From what I can see, Alaska Airlines operates codeshares for Qantas and you can earn QF FF points (not Status Credits) on AS operated and coded flights. But I don't believe you can redeem QF FF points for an award on AS any more (used to be able to). They certainly no longer appear in the header of the Partner Awards table.

[AnonymousCoward]

Originally Posted by NM

From what I can see, Alaska Airlines operates codeshares for Qantas and you can earn QF FF points (not Status Credits) on AS operated and coded flights.

Alternatively book under the AA codeshare, and you can get SCs and points. The cost seems to be about the same.

[drron]

This is another example of the benefits of AAdvantage.We did this trip last year though in ANC out SEA and had no problems organising it 7 months out through AA for 2 business awards.The only flight we did not get the day we wanted was the QF flight NRT-SYD(this was before JAL had joined OW).It was not that expensive for the flights we took on AS which we booked on line using the AA codeshare from aa.com.However if you are not a member of AA it would be easier booking through the AS site as they accept aussie credit cards but then you have to accept the AS flight numbers.You can include YVR in an AS ticket as their affiliate Horizon fly YVR-SEA.

[gaz1]

Hi,

Thanks for all the help so far.

It looks like we will do something like:

PER-SYD-LAX-ANC-FAI train back to ANC, cruise to YVR, then:
YVR-NRT-PER

We want to go First Class from SYD-LAX, so looking at the Qantas points tables it looks like is uses less points to just book the individual sectors than to do a oneworld award booking.

It appears that booking seperate YVR-NRT & NRT to PER sectors actually uses less points than booking straight through (because it tips just over the 9600 mile limit of Zone 9).

On the awards points tables they have a Qantas award table (for Qantas, AA, etc) and a partner table (for JAL, Cathay, etc). Which table do they use if you book (say) Qantas & JAL? If you could find a Qantas flight number (codeshare) for the JAL flight would that then be counted as just a Qantas Award booking?

I can't find an AA codeshare flight for ANC-FAI, so it looks like we would have to go Alaska Air. The QFF bookings person told me that we could book Alaska Air using FF points as they are a partner (but not part of oneworld) even though they aren't listed on the Partner point table.

This will be Sept next year - I notice that QF11 currently says 747-400, do you think this will be the flight they put the first A380's ?

Any thoughts / comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks,

Gary.

[rhjames]

You'll be doing well if you can get on QF11 using FF points, particularly 1st class.